Video: Price Management

We’re excited to share with you our latest video in the Merret series, featuring our price management solution. Advanced pricing functionality has already enabled one of our customers to increase their weekly global sales by £400,000. Find out how in the video below:
As ASOS’ Nick Robertson notably said, “get your prices right and the rest follows” – this statement came after rolling out zonal pricing to improve the brand’s international performance.
Zonal Pricing
Global retailing often results in the requirement to introduce different pricing in different territories. Our solution manages advanced pricing across the globe in the following ways:
Timed promotions
When operating a promotion across different time zones, such as Black Friday, it can throw up operational challenges. How can Black Friday “begin” at the same time in all countries? Merret’s global infrastructure can set up time zones to trigger promotional offers in the correct timeslot. As shown in the video, a Black Friday 16:00pm start in the UK will be offset to ensure the US also experiences a 16:00pm start.
Exchange and Price Point tables
Retailers might not always want to use exchange rates to calculate international prices, due to their volatility. Merret has therefore been developed to operate with static international prices in a ‘Price Point’ table, which could mean that £50 always equates to €60 or $70, regardless of any fluctuations in exchange rate. The retailer can manually set price points.
Over 20 leading global retail brands are benefiting from our award-winning solution, which is responsible for managing advanced pricing strategies across the globe, in order to maximise profitability, and ensure a consistent customer experience no matter which country you’re shopping in.
If you want to see how Merret’s pricing functionality supports omnichannel retailing, check out our dedicated video here.
For more retail technology insights, download our new whitepaper – What is Omnichannel Retailing? – available as a free PDF.
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If you’re looking for the latest insights into omnichannel retailing, including trends, stats, innovative approaches, and best practice, download our latest whitepaper here: “what is omnichannel retailing?”
In a free PDF, we’re providing information to retail decision-makers on all things omnichannel, including the following:
As retail industry experts, our intimate knowledge of omnichannel is benefiting 20 retail brands using our supply chain solution, Merret. Read how Harvey Nichols and Morrisons are benefiting after recent upgrade projects. Real time stock availability and stock accuracy are some of the biggest benefits cited by our users.
DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE PDF NOW
In a feature-length download, we expand on the need for a single stock pool, why retailers should be using their stores to fulfil orders, and the benefits of omnichannel approaches to the product journey.
Watch our omnichannel video below to find out more, or download the whitepaper here.
Merret is Retail Assist’s omnichannel supply chain solution for your entire global estate of stores and warehouses, including zonal pricing modules for optimising international operations, and user defined replenishment rules to ensure stock can be automatically and dynamically moved for maximum sales performance. Furthermore, integrated click-and-collect ability and rule-based fulfilment, including the ability to Ship-from-Store where suitable, utilise your entire inventory for greater profitability.…

A retailer’s replenishment system is one of the most powerful engines for ensuring the correct levels of stock are in the right place, at the right time, for optimum sales performance. With the right replenishment software, not only are you improving margin and cost-to-serve the customer, but customer satisfaction is further increased with better omnichannel stock availability.
We’ve just launched our latest Merret video, highlighting the key benefits of our auto replenishment system. Over 20 leading global retail brands are benefiting from our award-winning solution, which is responsible for the dynamic movement of stock between their warehouses and stores.
Replenishment algorithms within Merret are user defined, allowing businesses to have dynamic control over their operations, using 100% stock visibility and critical data analysis to make better decisions on inventory management and forecasting. This means that retailers are achieving more full price orders and maximising their stock turns: margin is made every time the stock in the warehouse is sold or “turned around”.
Our auto replenishment system maintains optimum inventory levels on all products using 3 types of store replenishment, which can be manually selected/de-selected:
Ideal replenishment (setting min/max levels to prevent under/over stocking). Sales performance is tracked and ideal stock levels replenished. Changes to ideal stock can also be forecast and prior to specific activity e.g. promotional events, to avoid selling out.
Replenishment to planned cover
Improved stock and sales insight allows inventory forecasting and planning stock cover/safety.
‘n for 1’
For continuity or seasonal items, this rule keeps stock levels at their optimum, whether this be fixed, increasing, or decreasing.
Merret also helps retailers avoid out-of-stock scenarios by using a combination of stock rationing in the instance of low/zero stock, replenishing based on rules that ensure it is assigned to the store where it can be best sold. Stock substitution can also be activated to provide relevant substitutes to continuity products.
Read more about the benefits of our auto replenishment system on its dedicated webpage, here.
If you want to see how Merret’s replenishment system supports omnichannel retailing check out our dedicated video here.…

Retail Assist is continually approached to support retail brands’ omnichannel aspirations and operations, but what is omnichannel?
Omnichannel is a real-time, channel-agnostic visibility of inventory across the supply chain using a central stock pool, complemented by a single view of the consumer as they simultaneously shop across various channels, with the ability to fulfil demand anytime, anywhere.
As supply chain software specialists, we understand that the term “omnichannel” means many different things to retailers, and so tailor our solution, Merret, accordingly. We have 21 “omniscenarios” that we can currently offer as standard.
Whilst one brand may see omnichannel trading as the ability to perform operations such as ship-from-store to maximise the financial potential of stock inventory, another may view omni-ability differently in terms of what they can offer the customer: online orders returned in-store, for example. This is why we scope out our customers’ exact business requirements when they need support to implement omni.
Retail Assist’s end-to-end supply chain solution, Merret, has been developed to deliver the following omnijourneys, to fit our customers’ business needs:
As you can see, there are two main ordering options (online – encompassing mobile, tablet, desktop ordering; and in-store), two fulfilment options (from the warehouse; or from stores), and two delivery options (direct to the customer – home delivery; or to a collection point – for example a store).
Having the ability to fulfil orders regardless of channel, due to a single view of stock, is one of the biggest benefits of Merret cited by our customers.
Latest statistics from our Merret customer, Oasis, reveal that since fulfilling orders through Ship-from-Store, 20-30% incremental web sales have been achieved. Making in-store inventory available to online customers is critical to support increased demand with more opportunities to sell stock at full price – Merret’s central stock pool facilitates this, as in quadrant 1 and 2.
Click and Collect also presents great opportunities to drive sales, as New Look reports: a quarter of its Click and Collect customers make additional purchases when collecting in-store. During seasonal periods, these average an extra £27 per transaction.
Merret drives all of the processes you can see in the infographic, which when written out take the product through the following “omnijourneys” from point of order/sale to point of delivery:
Order on Web, Fulfilled from DC, Delivered to Home Address
Order on Web, Fulfilled from Single Store, Delivered to Home Address (Ship from Store)
Order on Web, Fulfilled from Multi Stores, Delivered to Home Address (Ship from Store)
Order on Web, Fulfilled from DC for Customer Collection (Click and Collect)
Order on Web, Fulfilled from Collection Store for Customer Collection (Click and Collect)
Order on Web, Fulfilled from other Stores for Customer Collection (Ship from Store & Click and Collect)
Ordered in Store, Fulfilled from DC, Delivered to Home Address
Ordered in Store, Fulfilled from Store, Delivered to Home Address
Ordered in Store, Fulfilled from other Stores, Delivered to Home Address (Ship from Store)
Ordered in Store, Fulfilled in Store…

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been outlining the key benefits of using Merret to drive efficiencies in your omnichannel retail processes. As well as facilitating a single view of stock, explained here, our omnichannel supply chain solution is helping retailers to maximise stock availability.
At a time when the customer demand requires fulfilling across all channels with the same availability, 24 x 7 x 365, having an agile inventory and flexible stock pool to fulfil orders is essential, to avoid customer dissatisfaction.
For example, one way in which Merret maximises stock availability is its central stock pool’s ability to use in-store stock to fulfil orders from different channels, as well as stock in the DC. This prevents frustrating out-of-stock situations online, when the item may in fact be hanging unsold on a rail in a store. This process is also known as ship-from-store, explained here in an infographic.
Merret has been developed to offer practical benefits when deployed on tablets in-store, enabling store staff to carry out omnichannel processes when on the shop floor with responsive, modern technology. For a more detailed look at Merret Tablet Inventory and its benefits in action, watch the solution used in-store with our customer, Karen Millen; Karen Millen went live with Merret early last year.
You can watch the full video on YouTube here.
The flexibility the solution gives to store staff is invaluable. Without being constrained by fixed terminals or clunky hand held devices, still able to walk the shop floor and interact with customers, store staff can do the following through Merret Tablet Inventory, as mentioned in the video:
Process Inter branch transfers, create, send and receive
Receive stock from the warehouse
Progress write on / off transactions
Undertake a stock-take
Carrying out these processes as soon as they require actioning, in response to real-time sales data, Merret allows a freer movement of stock that is 100% visible and accurate, helping maximise stock availability by placing it where it is needed most. In this way, more profitable business decisions are made and actioned.
Retailers can then fulfil more orders, and sell more stock at full price.
Interested in how our retail IT solutions could facilitate more efficient omnichannel retailing across your brand? Simply fill out this quick contact form and a member of our Sales team will be in touch, or call our Head Office on +44 115 904 2777.
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You may have seen our retail focus blog last week on single view of stock, and how critical it is to retailers pursuing omnichannel.
Benefits to the retailer positively influence every aspect of retail operations.
With regards to the Merchandising process, a single view of stock can enable retailers to display more accurate stock messaging, whether by only showing items in stock, removing customer frustration; or by creating urgency through low stock messaging such as ‘last chance to buy’. A single view of stock can also aid in-store staff, empowering them to answer enquiries about stock levels with a view across all channels, meaning they can direct a customer to alternative stores, or order the product online.
Fulfilment is also impacted positively by a single view of stock. Retailers can accurately track the presence of stock in both stores and warehouses in real time, turning stores into virtual distribution hubs. It can be more cost effective to ship from store, rather than rely on inflexible centralised warehousing.
For a single view of stock to be worthwhile, it must reflect changes in physical stock status in real-time, enabling retailers to access reliable information about all stock from a single viewpoint.
Check out our infographic below, giving a round up of 3 main benefits of a single view of stock in terms of omnichannel retailing and the customer experience:
Want to know more about how you can achieve a single view of stock, and improve business performance? Contact us to talk more about Merret, by emailing info@retail-assist.co.uk, or fill out our quick contact form here.…

If a retailer is to offer a truly omnichannel retail experience, a single view of stock is critical. That’s why the central stock pool function in our omnichannel supply chain solution, Merret, is at the heart of retail operations.
Having a single view of stock has several benefits:
Facilitates omnichannel processes such as ship-from-store. Using individual stores as virtual distribution hubs is key to ensuring orders are fulfilled in the most cost-efficient way, preventing overstocking and stockholding by making stock readily available where it’s needed most. This can only be achieved when stock is viewed across all channels in one single view. Being unable to view real-time stock levels across all channels can lead to unprofitable stockholding, resulting in mass discounting, which impacts severely on profit margins.
Better experience for the customer, by fulfilling a greater number of orders. Lack of stock visibility is detrimental to the omnichannel customer experience – how can a retailer fulfil the customer promise online and in-store if they can’t see where stock is held?
Business performance improved by responding to real time trends. A single view of stock across all channels, and end-to-end systems integration means data is reliable, allowing retailers to react to trading trends in real-time for more profitable decisions. Our Analytics module, Merret Analytics, provides a clear and simple view of all sales information, for greater business profitability.
With 100% stock visibility, what underpins it in terms of retail process and functionality?
The central stock pool in Merret uses one pool of stock to fulfil orders from any channel. It is not necessarily a sole physical location, as inventory can be physically held at different points; in the warehouse or in stores. It has a global ability to allocate stock based on central demand; this single view of stock ensures that inventory is always directed towards the channel in which it is selling best.
Maximising profitability through full price trade, and reducing discounting due to unbeneficial stockholding, are the benefits being experienced by leading retail brands, including Karen Millen, Jacques Vert, Oasis and Paperchase. You can read about our latest Merret project with Karen Millen here.
For more information about how you can achieve a single view of stock with Merret, please email info@retail-assist.co.uk, where one of our team will follow up your query.…

Latest Retail Week research reveals that 38% of retailers were transitioning to omnichannel last year, a business change process we’re carrying out with many retail brands, implementing our omnichannel supply chain solution: Merret. Our end-to-end solution enables 100% visibility of stock across all retail channels, and uses smart, real-time inventory management, to facilitate important retail processes that increase profitability. One of these is ship-from-store.
Here’s how ship-from-store works, in pictures:
Using individual stores as virtual distribution hubs is key to ensuring orders are fulfilled in the most cost-efficient way, preventing overstocking and stockholding. This is by making stock readily available where it’s needed most. Maximising profitability through full price trade, and reducing discounting, are the benefits being experienced by leading retail brands, including Karen Millen, Whistles, Mint Velvet and Paperchase. You can read about our latest Merret project with Karen Millen here.
Want to know more? Simply email info@retail-assist.co.uk with your enquiry, or call our Head Office on +44 (0)115 8533910 to speak with one of our team.…

During the last few years in retail, one term in particular has become dominant in the language of retail operations and supply chain functionality: omnichannel. But what is omnichannel retailing, what’s an omnichannel supply chain, and what are the benefits? This Retail Definitions blog will explain. Let’s start with a helpful graphic:
What is omnichannel retailing?
Omnichannel retailing is the new generation of cross-channel and multi-channel retail.
Omnichannel retailers have a presence on several channels and platforms (i.e. brick-and-mortar stores, mobile, online, concession, catalogue etc.) and enable customers to transact, interact, and engage across channels simultaneously and interchangeably.
Omnichannel, for example, gives customers the convenience and flexibility to purchase an item via their smartphone, selecting click-and-collect delivery to pick up the merchandise in-store, and afterwards process a return via the website. It’s important to note that omnichannel goes beyond a physical presence on multiple channels or platforms. Just because you have a website, a mobile app, and a physical store doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re an omnichannel retailer. The brand experience across channels must be seamless, enabling the consumer to shop the brand, not just the channel.
What is an omnichannel supply chain?
An omnichannel supply chain hinges on the use of a central stock pool to fulfil orders from all retail channels, including in-store, e-commerce and m-commerce, concessions and franchises, and telephone and catalogue. As in the graphic above, the central stock pool is at the heart of all operations.
It’s a fully integrated, end-to-end solution, providing an accurate and comprehensive visibility of stock, enabling retailers to maximise trade across their customer facing systems.
From ordering to fulfilment, as well as stock management and WSSI tools, a well-integrated omnichannel supply chain solution must have the capacity to manage all steps of retail operations, including buying, merchandising and warehousing.
What are the business benefits?
Increased stock accuracy and visibility ensures orders are fulfilled in the most cost effective and efficient way
Better sell through of full priced stock due to smarter stock management
Ability to offer click and collect, and facilitate ship from store practice
Customer experience of the brand is enhanced by a seamless and consistent shopping experience
Product journey is prioritised just as much as the customer journey
Our supply chain solution, Merret, is developed by Retail Assist for best-in-class omnichannel performance. We now have 21 retail brands live on Merret. Over the last 5 years, our Merret implementations have been commended and awarded at the BT Retail Week Tech & Ecomm Awards alongside our customers Morrisons, Jacques Vert, Whistles, and Mint Velvet. We believe our awards demonstrate our passion for what we do.
But don’t just take our word for it. The Global CFO of Paperchase, said: “We attributed a 6.4% uplift to Merret during its first year.”
If you’d like to talk with us further about Merret, or any of our retail IT solutions or retail IT services, call our Nottingham Head Office on 0115 8533910 or email info@retail-assist.co.uk…

M-Commerce is not only influencing a consumer at the point of sale, but bringing the point of sale to the consumer. The proportion of consumers buying goods via a mobile device has also soared world-wide, from 10% in 2008 to 28% in 2010. Research via IMRG & Capgemini shows that sales via mobile devices was up 138% in 2013, with these sales accounting for 30% off the total online retail spend. By 2015 a mobile device is sure to be part of every omnichannel shopping journey, with mobile sales accounting for 40% of the overall turnover by 2020.
Today M-Commerce encourages people to browse items because it’s easy, can be done at anytime and anywhere. Statistics in Retail Week revealed that nearly 20% of people who browse, end up buying, therefore the M-Commerce journey needs to be a simple one.
There are now more than 17million UK shoppers now making purchases via smartphones, with this popularity in mobile devices now having changed the way consumers research, browse, buy, and transact online. People are becoming increasingly impatient, which has also had a direct impact on ‘click-and-collect’. Customers aren’t prepared to wait for deliveries, they want their items immediately and this push towards ‘click-and-collect’ has ultimately driven consumers back in to ‘bricks and mortar’ stores.
With barcode scanning, QR codes, location based services, ‘check ins’ and coupons supported by mobile devices it can open up lots more opportunities for brands in terms of marketing, merchandising and customer acquisition campaigns – with more customer touch points, comes further sales as a result of direct engagement over numerous channels.
This growth in M-Commerce has meant that shoppers increasingly expect convenience speed and choice as standard. Mobile devices need to cater to these demands, with optimised content, offering quick and simple presentation and navigation. Retailers therefore have to take a fresh look at their operation to keep up with customer demands, often designing the customer approach with one that thinks about the mobile journey first.
However the mobile journey doesn’t just stop with customers. It is one which is becoming more and more part of retailers operating strategies. Therefore, with current demands to provide real time stock availability, ensuring you have a central stock pool becomes critical.
Our supply chain solution Merret has been designed and constructed for today’s omnichannel world, with a complete end-to-end solution letting the customer choose how, when and where they want to shop. This provides the customer with a seamless and consistent experience across multiple devices – ideal for the current growth in M-Commerce platforms.
If you would like more information about our Merret supply chain then please visit our website: http://www.retail-assist.co.uk/merret-supply-chain/. You can also email us on: info@retail-assist.co.uk or call us on: +44 (0) 115 853 3910
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